Conan O’Brien admitted his present straddled the road between “sensible” and “silly.”
The talk-show host took the “Conan” stage for the ultimate time Thursday, marking the tip of a storied late-night profession that spanned 28 years. The chat-fest icon marked the emotional event with a poignant — and fittingly sidesplitting — monologue, by which he thanked followers and colleagues for becoming a member of him on the journey.
“It’s laborious to consider, it’s laborious to say, it’s our closing present on TBS,” O’Brien, 58, informed the packed viewers on the opening of his final ever present on the community. “Each evening, I at all times mentioned, ‘Tonight we have now a very nice present’ and I’ve to inform you, I used to be typically mendacity.”
Nonetheless, the Massachusetts native assured followers that “tonight we actually do have a terrific present,” earlier than cheekily including, “And if we don’t, what are you going to do about it? I’ll be lengthy gone.”
O’Brien’s heartfelt farewell additionally included a shout-out to his colleagues and crew, with out whom he mentioned “Conan” wouldn’t be attainable.
“I’m the beneficiary of actually lots of and lots of of wonderful individuals after which I’m simply the nostril cone of the rocket,” gushed the late evening legend. He then proceeded to thank everybody from the crew at TBS to his devoted on-air sidekick Andy Richter, whom he described as “one of many funniest individuals” he’d ever met.
O’Brien continued, “I’m so grateful to all of my employees and to the followers on this nation and world wide who’ve joined me on this actually loopy and seemingly pointless pursuit to do issues which can be sort of silly however have one thing sensible in there someplace and there’s somewhat tiny flicker of what’s sort of magic.”
“My recommendation to anybody watching proper now’s it isn’t straightforward to do however attempt to do what you’re keen on with individuals you’re keen on, and in the event you can handle that, it’s the definition of heaven on earth,” concluded the quirky comedian.
The “Conan” finale included a Zoom name from funnyman Will Ferrell and a transferring compilation of his superstar interviews through the years, which included chats with leisure greats from Tom Hanks to Betty White.
One in every of closing episode’s extra uproarious moments entailed an animated phase, by which O’Brien has an exit interview with Homer Simpson, a tribute to his stint as a author on the Matt Groening-created cartoon. The primary gag concerned Homer not figuring out who Conan was regardless of working for TBS.
“Thanks, Homer. You imply the world to me,” cartoon O’Brien mentioned within the sketch, to which Homer replied, “You imply the world to me, Conrad.”
The present concluded with Jack Black belting out an O’Brien-inspired sendup of “My Manner” by Frank Sinatra.
The episode proved a becoming finish to the comic’s legendary late-night profession, which began in 1993, when NBC commissioned the then budding comedy author to take over David Letterman’s gig as host of “Late Evening” in 1993. The previous president of the “Harvard Lampoon” hosted the present, entitled “Late Evening With Conan O’Brien” till 2009, when he took over the “The Tonight Present” for an eight-month interval between 2009 and 2010. The Emmy winner then hosted “Conan” from 2010-2021.
O’Brien is at the moment slated to host a weekly HBO Max sequence that may air subsequent yr.
Reflecting on his epic late-night run, the speak present nice mentioned, “I actually love internet hosting a late-night speak present. I at all times thought it was the job I used to be born to do. However now and again I prefer to attempt my hand at one other profession.”
